4 Takeaways As Alex Palou’s Portland Victory Gives Him Championship Control

Portland International Raceway (Portland, Ore.) — Alex Palou knew the race on Sunday was pivotal in his quest for a fourth consecutive INDYCAR title and fifth overall. He certainly wouldn’t lose the title at Portland, but he for sure could squash the hopes of many. The Chip Ganassi driver did just that. Palou led 60 of the final 80 laps. The 20 he didn’t lead were the result of various pit strategies — to increase his points lead from 83 points over David Malukas to 110 over Kyle Kirkwood (fifth) and 118 over Malukas (12th). Five races remain in the 2026 season. “It would take an immense amount of misfortune by them to not close out the championship and actually fight for it at the end and that’s just to fight for it,” Kirkwood told me after the race. “They’re doing everything right. … They’re doing a hell of a job, but they’re making our lives hell. “We’re just going to keep doing what we can do.” Here are my takeaways: 1. Palou Punishing Opponents With two new tracks in the next two weeks at Markham (Ontario, Canada) and Washington, D.C., Palou knew the race Sunday was pivotal. A win is worth 10 more points than a second-place finish. So Palou leaves Portland feeling really good. “I’m more comfortable than when we came here,” Palou said in his post-race news conference. “This was one of those weekends where we wanted to do good. “We want to do good every single weekend. But we don’t know what’s going to happen at Markham. New track for everyone, new track for me. We don’t know what’s going to happen at D.C. There’s still a lot of points to play. It was important to maximize.” 2. Kirkwood Happy With Fifth Kirkwood might have lost much sight of Palou in the championship battle. But overall, the Andretti Global driver was happy with fifth — considering he had finished 20th a year ago at Portland. “I’m going to take that,” Kirkwood told me. “I’m not happy to see Palou win. I don’t think anybody is except for himself and his crew. … But I’m happy with fifth. “We finished 20th here and that was on merit with no issues. Today, we had issues. We had a tire going down, we had to pit earlier than what we wanted to. We had a couple of little hiccups in pit lane and we still salvaged a fifth.” 3. Power’s Pit-Road Miscue Will Power didn’t hear his team call him to pit, so he pitted a lap later than the team wanted for his final pit stop. On that last lap before pitting, he lost a little bit of time trying to pass the lapped car of Sting Ray Robb. “I just didn’t hear [the team instructions] clear enough,” Power said in his post-race news conference. “Normally the strategists will repeat it multiple times. I never heard it again. “Heard in [Turn] 10. I was waiting, waiting [to hear again]. Was that a call or not? I think I missed a pit call there. … [And then] I absolutely got held up massively.” Both Power and second-place Felix Rosenqvist bemoaned the way the lapped cars race, although they indicated it wasn’t what allowed Palou to win. 4. VeeKay Finishes Fourth Again Rinus VeeKay finished fourth for the third time in the last five races. He made the Fast Six in qualifying, just as he did at Mid-Ohio, the most recent road-course race before Portland. The Juncos Holling Racing driver is showing that the speed in qualifying is translating into the race. “INDYCAR has become a track-position series, especially with the hybrid” VeeKay told me and other reporters after the race. “It was especially tough with Kyle Kirkwood on [soft tires] there at the start of the race, really breathing down my neck. “I had really good pace, but it wasn’t enough to move much further forward.” 4 ½. What’s Next: Markham With recent years of building construction in the area by the Toronto Exposition Center for the World Cup, INDYCAR ended up moving its Toronto race to the suburb of Markham. The new home for INDYCAR in Ontario is a 2.19-mile, 12-turn street course. The track should be nice compared to other street courses as the city has repaved the streets of the circuit.